I posted up a Melbourne strike simulation a while ago that I never got around to running. However, I've been teaching year 10/11 South African history this semester and I modified a lot of it to suit the political crisis of the 1980s (go check Wikipedia if you're unclear, or a lot of this won't make much sense). Comparing it to my Melbourne simulation, you can see how easily such a game can be radically altered. An account of today follows, there's a link to the rules at the end.
Changing the classroom into South Africa was fairly difficult, I could have used a good half an hour. I meant to label every area (Bantustans, factories, mines, Johannesburg, Soweto, Crossroads, Robben Island Prison...) But I only managed to move enough tables to create a vague back area (which I eventually decided was Soweto), a mine and a factory, and Johanessburg. I arranged a table in the corner, with chairs facing out the window, for the prison. Geography, like race, is socially constructed. It doesn't take much to agree "Okay, you're the blacks; you're the whites; this table is Johannesburg; this table is a Bantustan..." But without clear labels, most students were confused.bI spent the first few minutes finding people to be the big roles: PM Botha, a landlord, and a mine owner (I couldn't find a factory owner in the end). I asked one student could he please be the Minister of Police, and he picked a friend to be his partner in corruption. I explained the rules for working in the mine, who the cops were, and how guns worked (roughly a "bang, you're dead" system), and how sabotage worked (I don't think the ANC understood, the mine was never sabotaged). Go.
I spent the first minute or so egging the landlord on to start demanding rent payments. Naturally, the "blacks" were all broke, so I directed them to work in the mine. The mine-owner cackled with glee, the landlord asked me what to do with all of the money she was suddenly making. This persisted for a short time (roughly all of "1984"). But by 1985, the country ground to a halt. The trouble was, the game had no real penalty for not working. I had been aware of this beforehand, and it was really taking its toll. All of the engaged students ended up comitting petty crimes (which wiped out the Communist party). The disengaged students sat around and went on strike (which worked, in its way).
The game was driven by two forces. One was a terrorist. Usually disengaged, she enjoyed today. She snuck into the prison, where the Communist agitator was distributing smuggled arms, and assassinated the owner of the diamond mine. She fled to Zimbabwe on multiple occasions (the back wall of the classroom was "base"). Her best friend in class was the ANC organiser, so I guess she ended up playing a perfectly respectable role for this game.
The other was the police. I encouraged the landlord to sic them on people who wouldn't pay rent. I pointed out "that Bantu" (secretly the ANC organiser) hanging around Johannesburg. I should have explained the group areas act: the police escorted her to jail rather than back to the Bantustan. Then the police shot down Chief Buthelezi of the KwaZulu Bantustan (quite the opposite of history). I declared this caused international outrage, and a one-year boycott on South African diamonds (not that it mattered: the economy was in shambles). The police eventually ended up selling arms to anyone that would buy them. Because no one was working, this meant that people ended up robbing the diamond mines. The police were making too much money to care.
By 1986, a quarter of the class had been thrown in jail (on my rules, I think I had a maximum, but I guess overcrowded prisons are a good thing to simulate). The rest of the class was squatting in Soweto, refusing to pay rent or work in the mines (interestingly, they followed the strategies of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Azanian People's Organisation, the two I had not managed to find people to play). The police would move the squatters on, but they always returned. They would have thrown them in jail, but there was no room. I informed the government that the economy was collapsing. "Botha" passed a law saying all prisoners had to work in the mines. When the international press found out what was happening to Nelson Mandela, there was further outrage. Foreign companies pulled their investments. I looked around the room, saw total chaos and anarchy, and then the terrorist bombed the store. I figured I'd call it a game.
We went over the game and talked about all of the factors that were making the country fall apart: police corruption, terrorism, assassinations, a crime wave, a general strike, a rent strike, and a collapsing economy. For homework, they had to pick a factor, explain why people used it (or why it happened), and whether it was effective and/or moral.
The biggest failing was the lack of direct confrontation. Next time, I would make sure to introduce the following basic rules:
1. Group Areas. Clearly define white areas, black areas, and factories. For the Bantustan, I ended up saying "If you're not paying rent, you can't sit in a chair." Next time I would mark of a tiny area of carpet with some tape and call it the Bantustan. There would be no chairs and it would be horribly overcrowded. This would have made wages a real issue, instead of just allowing half the class to sit around and watch.
2. Police. Make sure the police understood Group Areas, and enforced them rigorously. I liked the corruption, but it would have been helpful for them to at least KNOW the law.
3. Work. How to work (they understood, but without a Bantustan to suffer in there was no reason), how to sabotage, etc.
4. Politics. I actually didn't let everyone know that there WERE political organisers in their midst, or what their role was. This meant the political organisers themselves were a bit confused, and didn't organise. If I made a particular point of this, the game would would be very very different. We simulated anarchy (good for a township rebellion), but I also wanted some of the factional infighting and negotiations with the government. As it was, the Prime Minister had no one to negotiate with.
These instructions needed more clarity (1 and 4 were barely touched upon). More importantly, I needed more time to set up. I didn't have the blackboard prepared (I wanted to show electoral support for the national party and international support, which I did; and the strength of the Rand and current legislation, which I didn't), and I didn't have the room laid out well enough. Next time.